CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
401 km from Hellín to Hellín, about 7 h 17 of riding. It goes by way of Cueva del Peliciego, Los Grajos I, Abrigo del milano and Abrigo del mojao. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
South of Hellín the land opens into the dry, high steppe of southern Albacete, a country of esparto grass, almond terraces and bare limestone ridges, and it is in these ridges that the small painted cavities of the area hide. Cavidad II is one of them, a modest hollow in the rock with prehistoric pigment on its walls, part of a dense scatter of rock art sites around the Minateda area that archaeologists have studied for more than a century. Like most of the Levantine sites it is fragile and frequently protected by a grille, so it rewards patience and imagination more than a quick photograph.
Read the complete Cavidad II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cavidad II is where the day begins. Next is Cueva del Peliciego.
Jumilla is wine. This town in the north of Murcia sits in a high, dry valley surrounded by bare mountains, and its vineyards, planted with the Monastrell grape, produce powerful red wines under the Jumilla designation of origin, one of the oldest in Spain. The Cueva del Peliciego, a rock shelter in the hills near the town, holds prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style, and it has been known since the early twentieth century, when it was one of the first rock art sites studied in the region.
Read the complete Cueva del Peliciego write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Peliciego comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Los Grajos I.
The painted women of Los Grajos are among the most famous figures in Spanish rock art. In a shelter in the limestone hills just outside Cieza, prehistoric painters depicted a group of human figures, several of them women with wide skirts and raised arms, often interpreted as dancers, alongside animals and other motifs. The Los Grajos shelters are part of the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, and they are protected, so visits need to be arranged with the local tourist office in Cieza.
Read the complete Los Grajos I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 82 km into the recorded legs you reach Los Grajos I. Next is Abrigo del milano.
Bullas is wine country, and the vineyards of Monastrell grapes roll over the hills around the town in the northwest of Murcia, producing robust red wines under their own denomination of origin. The Abrigo del Milano, the kite's shelter, named after the bird of prey that circles over these hills, lies in the countryside between Bullas, Mula and Pliego. It is one of the many rock shelters in Murcia with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, though access to many shelters is restricted to protect them, so ask locally before trying to visit.
Read the complete Abrigo del milano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del milano, about halfway. Next is Abrigo del mojao.
Sometimes a name on a map is all you have, and this is one of those places. The Abrigo del Mojao belongs to the cluster of painted rock shelters in the high north-east of Almería, in the sierra country that spills across towards Murcia, and it sits some sixteen kilometres from the nearest village of any size. The shelters here are part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art tradition that UNESCO recognised in 1998, and their paintings are usually schematic, simple red signs and figures drawn by people who lived in this dry upland thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Abrigo del mojao write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del mojao sits at 177 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del milano.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del milano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del milano comes up about 274 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Los Grajos I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Los Grajos I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 321 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Los Grajos I. Next is back through Cueva del Peliciego.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva del Peliciego write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva del Peliciego, late in the day. Next is Cavidad II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cavidad II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 401 km.
Cavidad II → Cueva del Peliciego is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Peliciego → Los Grajos I is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Los Grajos I → Abrigo del milano is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del milano → Abrigo del mojao is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del mojao → back through Abrigo del milano is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del milano → back through Los Grajos I is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Los Grajos I → back through Cueva del Peliciego is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva del Peliciego → Cavidad II is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.